Xunzi, also known as Xun Kuang, was a native of the State of Zhao during the Warring States period and an outstanding thinker of the late Warring States era.
During the Warring States period, when seven kingdoms vied for supremacy, the powerful state of Qi sought to strengthen itself by gathering talent. King Xuan of Qi built a grand academy near the Ji Gate of his capital Linzi, called the Jixia Academy, where renowned scholars from all states came to lecture, making it a vibrant center of intellectual exchange.
By the time Xunzi arrived in the state of Qi, he was already fifty years old. His vast learning and eloquence drew countless scholars to his lectures at the Jixia Academy, and the King of Qi appointed him three times as the Jijiu, the academy's highest academic leader.
Xunzi dedicated his life to studying the philosophies of Confucianism, Mohism, and Daoism, compiling his insights into 32 essays that were later collected as the book *Xunzi*.
Among these essays, one is titled "Correct Discourse." In "Correct Discourse," Xunzi expounds the following idea:
A ruler must serve as a model for the people. When a tyrant is overthrown, it is a good thing, not a bad one.
In a well-ordered state, punishments must be just and clear. Every criminal should face a penalty fitting their crime; if the punishment does not match the offense—if murderers are not executed and those who injure others are not sentenced—then crime is encouraged, leading to chaos in society.
Since Xunzi proposed how to govern by law in his writings, many later generations called him a "Legalist." Later, the idiom "punishment does not fit the crime" came to mean penalties that are too lenient or too harsh, disproportionate to the offense committed.
Source: *Xunzi*, Chapter "Zheng Lun"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "罚不当罪" came to describe penalties that are too lenient or too harsh, disproportionate to the offense committed.